The most coveted football trophy in Africa (Afcon trophy) goes missing. This is according to Egypt’s soccer governing body.
Egypt aka the Pharaohs won the prestige of keeping the trophy after winning it in three consecutive years from 2006-2010. This fete was achieved under Legendary coach Shehata and Talisman Hossam Hassan.
Speaking about it, Abdelghani, former Egyptian midfielder, said that the trophy had been lost in a fire seven years ago, but news were shelved.
“After the burning of the Football Association headquarters, some cups were lost, and the matter was investigated,” the former FA member began, “including the Africa Cup of Nations that we retained.”
“Some said that the cup had been with Shawky Gharib, the former general coach of the Egypt national team, and some say it had been with Hassan, the former captain of the Pharaohs. Hossam Hassan has since denied knowing where the trophy is.
World cup trophy once went missing in England.
The Jules Rimet Trophy(Now World cup), awarded to the winner of the football World Cup, was stolen in 1966 prior to the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England. The trophy was later recovered by a dog named Pickles who was later commended and gained a cult following for his heroism. One man was convicted for being involved but other possible culprits are still unknown. The trophy was eventually won by the hosting team
Brazil also won the World cup Trophy 3times but thieves took it away.
In 1970, Brazil received the Jules Rimet Trophy to keep forever after winning the World Cup for a third time, but in 1983 the trophy was again stolen.
A banker and football club agent (although the club, Clube Atlético Mineiro, denies his employment) called Sérgio Pereira Ayres (also known as “Sérgio Peralta”) was the mastermind of the theft. Peralta engaged two other men, an ex-police officer called Francisco Rivera (a.k.a. “Chico Barbudo”) and a decorator, José Luiz Vieira (a.k.a. “Luiz Bigode”). The two men entered the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF)’s building and, after incapacitating the nightwatchman, stole the trophy and two other trophies, “Equitativa” and “Jurrito”. A safecracker, Antonio Setta (a.k.a. “Broa”), revealed that Peralta had also approached him for the job, but he refused out of patriotism and because his brother had died of a heart attack when Brazil won the Jules Rimet Trophy.
Peralta and the rest of the suspects were arrested, and it was claimed that the trophy was melted into gold bars by Juan Carlos Hernández, an Argentine gold dealer. Hernández denied the accusation, and the traces of gold found after an analysis of his foundry did not match the material of the trophy. In addition, doubts were raised because the trophy was not made of solid gold; it could not be melted into gold bars, and according to Pedro Berwanger, the Brazilian federal police officer who led the original investigation, it would be worth much more if left intact.
Hernández was arrested, along with the suspects, but when they received their sentences, they all fled. Chico Barbudo was shot to death in 1989 by five men in a bar. Luiz Bigode was re-arrested and freed from jail in 1998. Antonio Setta died in a car accident in 1985, as he was going to the police central to testify on the crime. Juan Carlos Hernández, who had bought a luxurious estate in the upper-class Rio neighborhood of Humaitá shortly after the theft, fled to France and was arrested in 1998 at a bus station in São Paulo for drug trafficking (he had also served jail time in France for the same offence). He was freed from jail in 2005, having never served the penalty for receiving stolen goods that he would incur for the trophy. The mastermind, Sérgio Peralta, was freed from jail in 1998. He died of a heart attack in 2003.
The trophy has never been recovered. Instead, a replica of the Jules Rimet Trophy was presented to the CBF in 1984
